Menu

4 Reasons to Have Open Communication

Poor communication is a pet peeve of mine. I remember a time when I was working with the statistics for my team, and I asked my boss if I should share the numbers with the team as a whole. He told me that since the numbers weren’t good, we shouldn’t share the numbers. I disagree whole heartedly. When the numbers are bad is probably the best time to share them. Granted, this is the boss that no one went to with their problems or challenges.

4 reasons to have open communication:

It builds trust – I harp on trust a lot, but without trust, no relationship can function. If you can tell me the bad when it’s bad, I can trust you to tell me the good when it’s good.

It builds camaraderie – Especially in bad times, having a common cause to rally behind will always create deep relationships within your team. A unified team is unstoppable.

It builds openness – Just like how no one would go to my former boss about their problems or challenges for fear of having them swept under the rug, if you hide bad times behind sunshine, no one will go to you because they cannot reasonably expect you to help them resolve the problems they’re facing. A team with closed, secretive communication is a dead team.

It builds morale – People can sense when something is wrong. It’s a rare breed of people who are so empathically defunct that they can’t sense impending doom. When people feel something is wrong, it saps away at their morale. I believe people would rather know something is wrong and work on solutions than not know their enemy.

What is the state of your team’s communication? Is there any area you can improve on in your communication?